The Era of Vampires (2003)
Handlung Prologue. In 17th century rural China during the Ching dynasty, when a dead body isn't resting in peace, chemical and physical changes can build up, allowing it to leave the grave in the form of a zombie, feeding on the flesh of humans. Over time, the zombie will turn into a vampire. If you are bitten or scratched by a zombie, you can recover. But if you are bitten or scratched by a vampire, you will become a vampire. Only a handful of skilled warriors dared to challenge these mystical demons of the night. This is their story. Master Mao Shan and his disciples are out hunting zombies and vampires when they come upon the disturbed grave of a general. Master Shan jumps into the grave to see whether the general's body is still there and to destroy it if it is. No such luck. The general has turned into an immensely powerful vampire with the ability to suck the life and blood from a human without even having to bite him. As the priests fight the vampire, their torches suddenly ignite the methane gas around them, sending the whole area up in flames. Three months later. Master Shan is still missing. Guided by their vampire-detecting compass, four of his disciples -- Wind, Thunder, Rain, and Lightning -- are searching the night for vampires when they come across the Jiang estate. They notice wedding caterers going inside the gates. Master Jiang's son is getting married. Wind, Thunder, Rain, and Lightning follow the wedding caterers inside. Once inside, they are mistaken by the butler for hired labor and put to work, right after being renamed Kung (Wind), Hei (Thunder), Fat (Rain), and Choi (Lightning). Young Master Jiang has been married six times. Each time, his wife has died shortly after the wedding. The morning after this marriage to Sasa Anya, however, it is Young Jiang who is dead, bitten by a cobra. Master Jiang Rong Guang asks the four "workers" to remain in his employ and to find and destroy the snake that bit his son. Thunder is most eager to remain. He's seen and fallen in love with Sasa. Rumor has it that the Jiangs are fabulously wealthy and have much gold hidden away somewhere in their house. In fact, even as the wedding was underway, hired robbers were on their way to the Jiang's house, planning to break in and make off with the gold. As they rode their horses through the forest to the Jiang house, however, they were attacked by a vampire. Of the half dozen robbers, only one managed to escape. Dragon Tang Lee Wai Shing isn't very happy to see him come back empty handed, for it was he who hired the robbers and he who arranged for his sister Sasa's marriage to Young Jiang. Dragon needs the money to pay off his gambling debts. He's even more unhappy when he hears about the vampire. Now that Sasa is a widow, she wishes to leave the Jiang house. There are many strange things happening there, so she writes to her brother and asks that he please get her out of there. When Jiang learns of Sasa's desire to leave, he assumes she is lonely. You won't be lonely, he explains and shows her how he has preserved her husband in wax. In fact, all the Jiang ancestors have been preserved in wax. And so will you be preserved in wax when you die, Jiang assures her. Sasa swoons. The vampire-detecting compass keeps reading that there are vampires in the area, but so far Wind, Thunder, Rain and Lightning have been unable to find them...until they make their way into the family crypt and find dozens of Jiangs, all perfectly preserved in wax. Could one of these be the vampire, wonders Thunder? While leaning on the wall, Rain suddenly presses a lever that opens a chest filled with gold. They have stumbled on the Jiang fortune. Meanwhile, the butler has sold out to Dragon Tang, giving him information about the Jiang household, the gold, and the waxed ancestors as well as the fact that it was Jiang himself who made up the story about there being vampires around. The butler suggests that Dragon hire the Zombie Wrangler to wake up the waxed ancestors. While all these dead ancestors are hopping around, keeping Jiang busy trying to round them up again, Dragon can simply walk in unnoticed and make off with the gold. After meeting the Zombie Wrangler Koon Tai and his chiang shih, Dragon goes along with the plan. Jiang is angry with the four disciples for sneaking a peek at Sasa while she was bathing, and he does a bit of fighting with them until he realizes that these guys are too well-trained in the martial arts to be simple servants. Now the truth comes out. They admit that they are vampire hunters. Jiang scoffs at the idea of vampires in his area and informs them that it was he who made up the whole story about vampires in order to keep the robbers from his door. If they are really vampire hunters and if they can help him eliminate the problems that shadow his family, Jiang says that he will adopt one of them as his godson and heir to the fortune as well as allow him to marry Sasa. Thunder immediately offers himself. Jiang laughs. True to his word, the Zombie Wrangler awakens all the dead Jiangs. Jiang thinks that the vampire hunters have awakened his family in order to create a diversion while they steal his gold. But it's not the corpses he should be worried about...it's the powerful vampire who has suddenly shown up. Thunder grabs Sasa, and the two attempt to flee on horseback, hoping to outrun the vampire. Unfortunately, they take a wrong turn and end up at the vampire's grave. Just as the vampire is about to suck out Thunder's blood, Thunder is hit by water. (Vampires can't see you if you're wet.) Thunder looks up to see Master Shan. Thunder places Sasa in a pool of water, then he and Master Shan jump into a well. Unfortunately, there is no water in the well. Just then, it starts to rain. Meanwhile, Jiang is sitting in the family crypt when he hears Dragon and the butler come in. They are looking for the gold, but Jiang is not about to let them get it. As Jiang and Dragon fight, the butler scoops up the gold, but he is bitten by a gold snake. The vampire shows up and kills Dragon and Jiang. Master Shan and Thunder take Sasa to shelter. While she sleeps, Thunder tells Master Shan that he has just married Sasa. Shan tells Thunder how he's been following the vampire for the past several months. Suddenly, they smell smoke. It's coming from a wound on Sasa's leg. Master Shan concludes that Sasa has been wounded by the vampire and will turn into one herself within the next seven days unless she is treated with coffinwood. Meanwhile, back at the Jiang house, the servant girl Ling stumbles into the family crypt and comes face to face with the vampire. Lightning protects Ling (he's become sweet on her) as Wind and Rain fight the vampire. Just then, Master Shan and Thunder show up. Master Shan notices that the Jiang zombies have been feeding and will soon turn into vampires unless they are destroyed by exposing them to sunlight. Thunder and Sasa see the vampire and run out into the night where they meet up with Master Shan et al. Shan says that the vampire knows they're looking for him. Thunder orders Sasa to find a safe place in town to hide, then they all go off in search of the vampire. They go to the Jiang crypt. Lightning makes the mistake of touching the gold, which is a trap. A net drops over them. Jiang and Dragon then appear, obviously dead. Jiang tells Dragon that he can have all the gold if he'll kill the vampire hunters. As they fight, the vampire shows up. Master Shan says that the vampire has been feeding on Jiang and Dragon and is now superpowerful. After a long, hard battle, Master Shan blows up the vampire with explosives. Unfortunately, Shan gets blown up, too. Epilogue: Now that the vampire is destroyed, it is time for Wind, Thunder, Rain, and Lightning to go their own ways. Thunder and Sasa are returning to her village. Lightning and Ling are going to move into the Jiang house, now that it's empty. Wind and Rain will be staying with Lightning just until they get jobs of their own. Kategorie:Film Kategorie:Hong Kong Kategorie:Japan Kategorie:Niederlande Kategorie:Horror Kategorie:Action Kategorie:Noch bearbeiten